Business

Friday July 24, 2009

RM6.4bil gas subsidy for rest of the year


KUALA LUMPUR: The total gas subsidy for the rest of the year would be RM6.4bil, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop.

“When you annualise it, it will be RM12.8bil,” he said after delivering a keynote address at the Forum on Private Pension Industry and Retirement Funds yesterday.

The Government had decided on Wednesday that the existing gas price of RM10.70 per million metric British thermal units be retained.

Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, meeting participants at the Forum on Private Pension Industry and Retirement Funds. He told a press conference after the opening of the forum that gas subsidy for rest of the year would be RM6.4bil.

“In line with this decision, the average electricity rate will be retained at 31.31 sen/kWh until the end of the year,” the Energy, Green Technology and Water Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The next review on the gas price for the electricity sector would take place at the end of this year.

“If there is any change, it should take effect in January next year,” Nor Mohamed said.

On the setting up of Ekuiti Nasional Bhd (Ekuinas), Nor Mohamed said it was “progressing well” and Ekuinas was on track to be established by the end of this year.

Ekuinas, a private equity fund to be established with an initial capital of RM500mil and eventually enlarged to RM10bil, will invest in high-growth sectors, including education, medical tourism, education tourism, information and communications technology, and oil and gas.

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